National Political News

WASHINGTON – The 111th Congress will convene this week determined to avoid the mistakes of two eras: the Great Depression and the Carter administration.

WASHINGTON – Members of Congress have one reason to ring in the new year: They're set to receive a $4,700 annual pay raise on Thursday.

DELARAM, Afghanistan – The U.S. Marines are considering requesting two battalions and a combat aviation unit in Taliban-controlled southern Afghanistan, which would be the largest proposed expansion of U.S. troops in the volatile region, two senior Marine commanders told McClatchy.

California will regain some of its political mojo next year, on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

WASHINGTON – Last Monday, Roll Call named California's Kevin McCarthy the House's rookie of the year.

Sure, there's a recession, but the arrows are pointing up for economists at the University of California, Berkeley.

California is broke and cannot afford thousands of public works projects, but Uncle Sam could be riding to the rescue.

WASHINGTON – Christmas falls on Dec. 25, but in the nation's capital it will come in early January, when the 111th Congress convenes and begins assembling an economic stimulus plan worth between $600 billion and $850 billion, and counting.

WASHINGTON – Civil libertarians and human rights groups want the incoming Obama administration to investigate whether the Bush administration committed war crimes. They don't just want low-level CIA interrogators. They want President George W. Bush on down.

A leader of the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 on Thursday declined an invitation to attend the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama signaled Thursday that he plans to put Wall Street on a tighter leash, saying that he'll soon unveil plans to intensify and perhaps restructure regulation of the financial sector.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama has made his selections for Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman, transportation secretary and U.S. trade representative, insiders said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON – Politics corroded Bush administration decisions on protecting endangered species in California's Central Valley and other regions nationwide, federal investigators have concluded in a sweeping new report.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is expected to slash its benchmark lending rate to a record low today. In theory, that will drive down the cost of borrowing for businesses and consumers, but in practice that isn't happening, as banks are still charging consumers more than double the rate they usually offer their best customers.

WASHINGTON – A divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that smokers can sue tobacco companies in state court for making fraudulent claims.

WASHINGTON – John McCain pointedly refused to say Sunday that he would back former running mate Sarah Palin if she runs for president in 2012, saying there are plenty of other good people in the Republican Party to consider.

WASHINGTON – The White House reluctantly announced Friday that it will consider using money from October's controversial $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund to keep Detroit automakers out of bankruptcy.

BAGHDAD – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last month sold the Iraqi people on a security pact with the United States that he called a "withdrawal agreement" to end the presence of American forces in his country by the beginning of 2012.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders have agreed to a $500 billion economic stimulus package that they want to move next month even before Obama takes office.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama's choice as a top environmental adviser knows the Central Valley's air and water problems better than most.

WASHINGTON – Top officials – including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, who chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff – were responsible for "abusive" interrogation techniques used on detainees at Guantánamo Bay, in Afghanistan and at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a bipartisan Senate report concludes.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday that he was "appalled" at charges that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat, and said that he never spoke with the governor about the vacancy and that he's ordered an internal review to see if any of his staff did.

The Bush administration on Wednesday abandoned efforts to relax pollution controls on coal-fired power plants and industries, bringing to a sudden end a long White House fight with environmental groups.

Ensnared in an effort to give a $14 billion bailout to the automobile industry, California's air quality standards took yet another blow when congressional Democrats tried to sidestep a fight with the White House.

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. forces mistakenly killed six Afghan national policemen and wounded 13 others during an early-morning raid Wednesday on a suspected Taliban leader, U.S. forces here said.

In a move that could have a profound impact in California, the Bush administration has changed the H-2A guest farmworker program.

WASHINGTON – The military ignored steps before the invasion of Iraq that could have prevented the staggering number of casualties from roadside bombs, the Pentagon's acting inspector general charged Tuesday.

California's Mary Nichols has an idea for how Washington can respond to global warming: Start with the Environmental Protection Agency.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama was untainted but not untouched Tuesday by the stunning scandal surrounding charges that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell Obama's now-vacant Senate seat in exchange for cash or a lucrative job in the future Obama administration.